ParaView/Git

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ParaView version tracking and development is hosted by Git.

Official Repository

One may browse the repository online using the Gitweb interface at http://paraview.org/gitweb.

Typical Users Workflow

This page contains some excellent information about git and how everything works. However, this section is intended to allow casual users to literally copy and paste a few lines to obtain or update the ParaView source.

Initial Download

If you have never downloaded ParaView before, you should use the commands 

$ mkdir ParaView
$ cd ParaView
$ git clone --recursive git://paraview.org/ParaView.git
$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

Updating

If you already have ParaView, but want the latest version, you should use the commands 

$ git submodule update
$ git pull origin master

Cloning

Clone ParaView using the command 

$ git clone --recursive git://paraview.org/ParaView.git

This requires Git 1.6.5 or higher. If you do not have it, see below. If your institution's firewall blocks the Git port for outgoing connections, see below.

The clone URLs for the repository are 

git://paraview.org/ParaView.git
http://paraview.org/ParaView.git

In order to push changes to ParaView, if you have been given push access, set the pushurl 

$ git config remote.origin.pushurl git@paraview.org:ParaView.git

For ParaViewData the URLs are 

git://paraview.org/ParaViewData.git
http://paraview.org/ParaViewData.git
git@paraview.org:ParaViewData.git

All further commands work inside the local copy of the repository created by the clone. See the VTK Git documentation for further details.

Branches

At the time of this writing the repository has the following branches:

  • master: Development (default)
  • release: Release preparation branch (prior to switching to a brancy workflow; may go away later)
  • hooks: Local commit hooks (place in .git/hooks)

Release branches converted from CVS have been artificially merged into master. Actual releases have tags named by the release version number.

Initializing the Submodules

ParaView references a few other projects as submodules. They can be obtained using the git submodule command. First use the 'init' subcommand to register the submodules: 

$ git submodule init

This configures the submodules to fetch from their default URLs, such as git://vtk.org/VTK.git for VTK. Next one may optionally configure a different URL, perhaps to use the http protocol: 

$ git config submodule.VTK.url http://vtk.org/VTK.git

(and similarly for other submodules if necessary). Finally, use the 'update' subcommand to get the submodules: 

$ git submodule update

Whenever you update your work tree to some revision of ParaView then 'git status' may report that the submodule directories are modified. This is because commands like 'git checkout' do not automatically update submodules. Use 'git submodule update' at any time to ensure that the submodule directories are updated to the versions referenced by the parent project.

VTK

ParaView references VTK as a submodule called 'VTK'. Repository URLs: 

git://vtk.org/VTK.git
http://vtk.org/VTK.git
git@vtk.org:VTK.git

IceT

ParaView references IceT as a submodule called 'IceT' at path 'Utilities/IceT'. Repository URLs: 

git://paraview.org/IceT.git
http://paraview.org/IceT.git
git@paraview:IceT.git

git://public.kitware.com/IceT.git
http://public.kitware.com/IceT.git
git@public.kitware.com:IceT.git

Xdmf

ParaView references Xdmf as a submodule called 'Xdmf' at path 'Utilities/Xdmf2'. Repository URLs: 

git://paraview.org/Xdmf.git
http://paraview.org/Xdmf.git
git@paraview:Xdmf.git

git://public.kitware.com/Xdmf.git
http://public.kitware.com/Xdmf.git
git@public.kitware.com:Xdmf.git

Submodules

ParaView references the VTK repository as a submodule (and a few other projects too). See the git submodule command documentation.

Introduction

After the initial clone, Git does not tell you anything special about submodules by default: 

$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

However, the Git submodule porcelain does: 

$ git submodule status
-432f38d95bfa3c68d1345917680f4d2b4d1267c4 Utilities/IceT
-17f7aadc96a0a72c0f8f6e21cd37900db73b1b1f Utilities/Xdmf2
-3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34 VTK

This says that the currently checked out version of ParaView points to commit 3bc24abb from VTK. The "-" prefix means that the VTK submodule is not checked out in the current work tree. We can confirm this by looking at the VTK directory: 

$ ls -a VTK/
./ ../

Even though VTK is not there, the current version of ParaView knows what version of VTK it wants. We can see this by using Git plumbing commands to list the content of the top-level tree: 

$ git ls-tree HEAD | tail -3
040000 tree d46aa321e9971c38f484350a2d0495183a0cc517    Utilities
160000 commit 3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34  VTK
100644 blob 1cdb942f9a8c9e13a1e3da52b6fdbe522626981a    vtkPVConfig.h.in

Note that the entry for "VTK" is not a blob or a tree...it's a commit! The commit is not necessarily known to the ParaView/.git repository because it comes from VTK. We can see the commit here: 3bc24abb

In order to get VTK we need to ask Git to checkout the submodules: 

$ git submodule init
Submodule 'IceT' (git://paraview.org/IceT.git) registered for path 'Utilities/IceT'
Submodule 'Xdmf' (git://paraview.org/Xdmf.git) registered for path 'Utilities/Xdmf2'
Submodule 'VTK' (git://vtk.org/VTK.git) registered for path 'VTK'
$ git submodule update
Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/ParaView/Utilities/IceT/.git/
...
Submodule path 'Utilities/IceT': checked out '432f38d95bfa3c68d1345917680f4d2b4d1267c4'
Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/ParaView/Utilities/Xdmf2/.git/
...
Submodule path 'Utilities/Xdmf2': checked out '17f7aadc96a0a72c0f8f6e21cd37900db73b1b1f'
Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/ParaView/VTK/.git/
...
Submodule path 'VTK': checked out '3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34'

Now Git's submodule porcelain reports 

$ git submodule status
 432f38d95bfa3c68d1345917680f4d2b4d1267c4 Utilities/IceT (432f38d)
 17f7aadc96a0a72c0f8f6e21cd37900db73b1b1f Utilities/Xdmf2 (17f7aad)
 3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34 VTK (v5.4.2-4340-g3bc24ab)

Note the leading space on each line. This means that the submodule is checked out to the version that our current ParaView version references. We can confirm this by looking in VTK: 

$ cd VTK
VTK$ git rev-parse HEAD
3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34

Note that the VTK work tree is on a detached head, meaning that its HEAD does not point at a branch but instead directly at a commit: 

VTK$ cat .git/HEAD
3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34
VTK$ git status
# Not currently on any branch.
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
VTK$ git branch
* (no branch)
  master
VTK$ cd ..

This is because the submodule reference stored in ParaView (3bc24abb) does not refer to a branch of VTK, but the specific commit.

Look at the log of the VTK submodule in ParaView: 

$ git log -p -- VTK
commit 71e7789b18f8006010d6989baa6ced79dc2e3f96
...
diff --git a/VTK b/VTK
index 46a8f04..3bc24ab 160000
--- a/VTK
+++ b/VTK
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 46a8f04a3d6084d18136ac6e51c3eb2685907497
+Subproject commit 3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34

commit 9f88e601468ecda4c3f52dd07c36b7c275646855
...
diff --git a/VTK b/VTK
index 8920140..46a8f04 160000
--- a/VTK
+++ b/VTK
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 892014037f07ac668979c85b85112fc850515b94
+Subproject commit 46a8f04a3d6084d18136ac6e51c3eb2685907497
...

Note that this does not show the changes in VTK, but rather the changes to the version of VTK that ParaView references.

Think of VTK as a file in ParaView that specifies the version of VTK to use. The content of this "file" is the version of VTK that is checked out in the VTK subdirectory. We can see this by changing the version of VTK in our work tree: 

$ cd VTK
VTK$ git checkout 'HEAD^'
VTK$ cd ..

Now our ParaView repository sees that we've modified "VTK": 

$ git status
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
$ git submodule status
 432f38d95bfa3c68d1345917680f4d2b4d1267c4 Utilities/IceT (432f38d)
 17f7aadc96a0a72c0f8f6e21cd37900db73b1b1f Utilities/Xdmf2 (17f7aad)
+81de700ff1bb6752b4f9710c49ca7454ee2889ae VTK (v5.4.2-4339-g81de700)

The leading "+" means that the submodule is checked out to a different version than that referenced. We can see the modification just like any other file: 

$ git diff
diff --git a/VTK b/VTK
index 3bc24ab..81de700 160000
--- a/VTK
+++ b/VTK
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34
+Subproject commit 81de700ff1bb6752b4f9710c49ca7454ee2889ae

At any time we can ask Git to checkout the version that ParaView wants: 

$ git submodule update
Submodule path 'VTK': checked out '3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34'
$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
$ cd VTK
VTK$ git rev-parse HEAD
3bc24abbd97b3d63574e1bafb91948a61033af34
VTK$ cd ..

Commits outside VTK

In order to commit a change to ParaView that does not involve VTK, avoid staging VTK before commit. For example, let's edit CTestConfig.cmake and stage it: 

$ vi CTestConfig.cmake
$ git add CTestConfig.cmake

Now check the status: 

$ git status
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       modified:   CTestConfig.cmake
#

In practice we might see VTK as modified: 

$ git status
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       modified:   CTestConfig.cmake
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#

This is okay, just don't use "git commit -a". Now we can commit: 

$ git commit
Removed unnecessary comment in CTest configuration

The comment was generated by CDash.  Since we've already followed its
instructions we do not need it anymore.

Before publishing, make sure that the VTK "file" was not changed: 

$ git show --stat
commit bd7970c0818007531298cb3cfb32cb6c79c1a4ad
Author: Brad King <brad.king@kitware.com>
Date:   Thu Apr 22 14:42:34 2010 -0400

    Removed unnecessary comment in CTest configuration

    The comment was generated by CDash.  Since we've already followed its
    instructions we do not need it anymore.

 CTestConfig.cmake |    6 ------
 1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

If we had accidentally included VTK in the commit, we might have seen this in the output: 

CTestConfig.cmake |    6 ------
VTK               |    2 +-
2 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

Do not publish this commit. Amend it to create a commit that does not update VTK. First, reset the index to point at the VTK referenced by the commit's parent: 

$ git reset 'HEAD^' -- VTK
$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 1 commit.
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#

Since the command just reset the index and we never ran 'git submodule update', the work tree appears modified with respect to the index. Now amend the commit: 

$ git commit --amend
$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 1 commit.
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

Now ParaView's HEAD refers to the same VTK as before our mistake. The work tree is still modified relative to that because we never ran 'git submodule update'.

Commits inside VTK

In order to make a change to ParaView that does involve VTK, first make sure that the VTK subdirectory is checked out to the version the current ParaView wants: 

$ git submodule update VTK

Now we can work in VTK: 

$ cd VTK
VTK$ git status
# Not currently on any branch.
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
VTK$ git branch
* (no branch)
  master

Wait! VTK is on a detached head! What to do? While it is possible to work and commit on a detached head, it is easier to create a local branch on which to work. 

VTK$ git checkout -b mywork
Switched to a new branch 'mywork'
VTK$ git status
# On branch mywork
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
VTK$ git branch
  master
* mywork

Now pretend you are working on VTK alone and make the change and commit. See the VTK Git Wiki for details on this. It is okay to change ParaView files outside the VTK if necessary, but they will not be included in the commit to VTK.

When finished in VTK, go back up to work on ParaView: 

VTK$ cd ..
$ git status
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

ParaView now sees that we've modified VTK. It doesn't know anything about what changes were made, just that the currently checked out version of VTK is different than that referenced by ParaView currently. Now we can stage the new version of VTK: 

$ git add VTK
$ git status
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       modified:   VTK
#

If any ParaView files outside of VTK were changed as part of this work, stage them as well. Then commit 

$ git commit
Avoid ParaView crash in VTK ...

Be sure to mention in the commit message the purpose of the change to ParaView. Don't just say "Updated VTK". Someone looking at history later already knows that VTK was updated just by looking at the list of changes in the commit! If the change was a fix only to VTK, but that was needed to fix a bug in ParaView, then describe that bug and the fix in the message.

Troubleshooting

Firewall Blocks Port 9418

Some institutions have firewalls that block Git's native protocol port 9418. Use the "url.<base>.insteadOf" configuration option to map git URLs to http: 

$ git config --global url.http://paraview.org/.insteadOf git://paraview.org/
$ git config --global url.http://vtk.org/.insteadOf git://vtk.org/

This tells Git to translate URLs under the hood by replacing prefixes. After running these commands once in your home directory then you can just use the "git://" mentioned elsewhere on this page and git will use the http protocol automagically.

An alternative approach is to manually choose the http URLs: 

$ git clone http://paraview.org/ParaView.git
$ cd ParaView
$ git submodule init
$ edit .git/config
(replace git:// with http:// in the submodule URLs)
$ git submodule update

Git Below 1.6.5

To clone ParaView using Git 1.6.4 or lower, use the commands 

$ git clone git://paraview.org/ParaView.git
$ cd ParaView
$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update
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